ROWE stands for Results Only Work Environment. When a company adopts the ROWE management system, there is no fixed time to work. You come in when you want, dressed however you want and work in your chosen way. Although there is much debate whether it does work, there are some companies that have adopted this strategy; or at least something similar, and have seen success.
Google is one of those companies. It is not exactly ROWE, but they have a system called the "20 Percent Time", where employees can spend 1 day a week to work on any project that they desire. It does not have to do with the company at all, sort of like a day dedicated to pursuing their own interest, using the company's equipment no less.
The whole point is to let the employees enjoy their work. When the engineers at Google work on their personal projects, they dig deep and do their best to develop whatever it is they are working on to be perfect. I mentioned something similar in a previous post on creativity. Happiness, enjoyment, personal space to breathe and explore are important ingredients in the pot of creativity.
About the ROWE, a full adoption of the system may not be that good of an idea. Too much freedom may be abused. Certain levels of boundaries must stick in the working environment just to let employees know that yes, it is a job not home.
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